The present invention relates to archery bows, and more particularly to a cable guard and cable guide for archery bows.
Conventional compound archery bows include a bowstring and a set of cables, usually an up cable and a down cable, to transfer energy from the limbs and cams or pulleys (which are both referred to generally as “cams” herein) of the bow to the bowstring, and thus to an arrow shot from the bow. The cables and bowstring are strung from a cam on one limb to a cam on another limb. Typically, the bowstring is positioned very close to the cables due to the configuration of the cams. To avoid interference between the vanes of an arrow shot from the bowstring and the cables, most compound bows include cable guards.
Generally, cable guards provide adequate clearance for arrow vanes or fletchings in the lateral spacing between cables and the plane in which the bowstring travels. The clearance can be achieved by offsetting the cables from the path or plane of the bowstring with the cable guard. Most cable guards include one or more cable guides that work with the cable guard to distance the cables from the cable guard, as well as from one another.
Many cable guards include a bar that extends from the riser of a bow. A cable guide is usually slidably mounted on the bar. The cable guide typically defines two open ended slots, one for receiving an up cable of the bow, the other for receiving a down cable of the bow. Although this construction provides effective cable clearance—that is, it retains the cables in a generally fixed position out of the plane in which the bowstring travels—it presents some shortcomings. For example, most conventional cable guards are rigid and relatively inflexible. Accordingly, when a bowstring is drawn and the cables subsequently become taut, the cable guard (and guide) tends to pull and exert a lateral force component on at least a portion of the cam to which they are attached. This can cause the cams to lean out of vertical alignment. Moreover, in some cases, the limbs of the bow also may twist due to the lateral force. Cam lean and/or limb twist can result in cable wear and possible inconsistent left-to-right shot precision and/or accuracy, which is undesirable. Further, the sliding movement of the cable guide on the cable guard can wear both structures, generate noise, and undesirably complicate the assembly.
Some previous cable guards include a particular configuration to reduce limb twisting and cable wear. Such cable guards include a cable guard rod having a front end and a cable end, where flexibility of the rod increases from the front end to the cable end (where the cables engage the rod). The increase in flexibility is provided via the rod tapering from a large diameter to a small diameter from the front end to the cable end, or by the rod changing from a circular cross section at the front end to a semi-circular cross section at the cable end. In other words, the flexibility is provided by the rod varying in cross section from the riser to the distal tip. While this cable guard construction is designed to reduce limb twist, it is believed that its commercialization generally has been unsuccessful to date. Moreover, because the cross section of such cable guards vary and effectively are reduced toward the end engaging the cables under force, it is believed that they might be prone to excessively deflecting or possibly breaking at that location.
Other cable guard constructions have implemented pulleys that serve as the cable guides. Although this design provides effective cable guidance, it too includes moving parts that must be monitored for wear and surfaces that can cause premature wear or abrasion on the cables.
While conventional cable guards and guides provide decent guidance for cables, there remains a long felt need to provide an archery bow with a simple cable guard and/or cable guide that performs in an efficient and reliable manner, and that minimizes leaning of the cam, bow limb twist, and/or excessive cable wear due to the same.